


A Poorly Kept Secret

by neytah



Series: oty+lauren [14]
Category: Only The Young (Band), X Factor (UK) RPF
Genre: Coming Out, F/F, F/M, Multi, Polyamory, ish, many other intersectional pairings i don't care to tag
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2015-02-19
Updated: 2015-02-19
Packaged: 2018-03-13 15:45:10
Rating: General Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 1
Words: 2,326
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/3387314
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/neytah/pseuds/neytah
Summary: <blockquote class="userstuff">
              <p>In which the five get reckless with their romantic rendezvous, and Stevi can't keep his mouth shut.</p>
            </blockquote>





	A Poorly Kept Secret

**Author's Note:**

> WOW this is so long i can't believe it! This was actually really fun to write and i'm really happy to share it with y'all. i'll be taking a break from the ot5 for a while (well, i kinda was already, but this makes it official). i might, if i am inspired by something on the tour, write some more, but i'm not gonna make any promises. it's against my nature as a writer to stay writing in the same fandom for this long, this adventure itself was an anomaly, so it's time for me to move on now. i still love the ot5, i still love lauren and oty and will be following the tour, but i have other projects i'm working on and am really excited about. i love you all, and you can always find me on tumblr at princessplatt!

It's not like they don't have eyes.

Everyone knows Only the Young and Lauren are close, it's not like they're shy about their friendship. And it's none of the other's business, but throughout the beginning of tour, they notice things without meaning to.

Fleur's leaving the studio for lunch when she stumbles upon a tender moment between Parisa and Lauren. They've come back to the studio, each with soft-serve ice cream, mostly eaten or melting. Lauren's scraping the bottom of her cup with the spoon, and when she brings it towards her mouth, Parisa intentionally bumps her elbow, and the melted ice cream gets on her nose.

"Hey!" She exclaims, but Parisa laughs. So she bops her spoon on Parisa's nose in retaliation. Now they're both laughing. Parisa leans forward and laps the cream from Lauren's nose. And when Lauren leans toward her again, Fleur expects her to do the same, but she doesn't. Instead she meets Parisa's lips, the taste of ice cream on their tongues.

Fleur decides to take a different exit.

She doesn't tell anyone about what she saw, though she considers talking about it with Lauren. She tries to figure out in her mind why Lauren wouldn't tell her: did she think Fleur would treat her differently for it, not understand it, tell her parents? It eats away at Fleur for about a week, until she comes to the conclusion that, if she needed to know, Lauren would've told her. Lauren's a smart kid, and if Lauren's keeping this from her, it's for a reason, and Fleur respects that. So she lets the memory of Lauren and Parisa's ice cream date retreat to the back of her mind.

\---

At the end of the last day of rehearsals, Ben's about to leave when he hears squeals from one of the dance rehearsal rooms. So he wanders towards the noise, curious of the shenanigans surely happening.

Through the glass door, he sees Mikey, with Lauren slung over his shoulder. He's laughing, she's half laughing half yelling, flailing her feet to no avail. He grins, pulling out his phone to film the adorable interaction. But before he can hit record, the dynamic changes.

Mikey lets Lauren down, and she delivers him a soft punch to the chest. He picks her up for another swing in a circle, and then lets her down again. He still hold her, standing lightly on her tiptoes. He presses a quick peck on her lips, and she cranes her neck up, meeting his lips in a much more tender kiss. Ben nearly swallows his tongue in shock. His phone ringing breaks his stupor, throwing him into a panic as he darts away to answer. He doesn't tell anyone, aside from his girlfriend, who swears secrecy. It's none of his business anyway.

And so the tour begins.

\--- 

It's the day before their first performance in Dublin, and they're on break when Andrea hears slow music coming from one of the dressing rooms. His natural curiosity leads him to the end of the hallway, where Lauren's dressing room is. And there, the door is open. And Lauren is not alone.

He sees them through the half open door, Lauren and Charlie, swaying side to side in each other's arms. Her head rests on his shoulder, his arms around her waist. It's a sweet, romantic scene that Andrea leaves quickly, not wanting to disturb the lovers. In a passing thought, he thinks of those headlines, as lewd as they were, might've been onto something.

\---

Casey was hanging out with Betsy, watching football on TV when he dozes off on the couch. He never meant to, but he's out cold until the cushion joggles, bringing him to a semiconscious state. HIs eyes drift open, just a sliver of vision, to see Lauren has joined them on the couch.

Now, Casey's still in a state of limbo, he doesn't realize the gravity of what he sees until he wakes up later with the memory. Lauren's sat over Betsy's lap, loose hair falling into Betsy's face.

"Casey asleep?" Lauren asks.

"For now."

And now she's kissing her. And then Lauren stands again, extending her hand for Betsy, which she takes. The weight on the cushion shifts again. And they're gone. And Casey's eyes drift closed again.

When he wakes up with a crick in and this strange vision in his mind, he assumes it was some dream, some subconscious fantasy or something. Regardless of how realistic the vision seemed.

\---

With each of these instances standing, unbeknownst to the five, their relationships are never brought to light. Because their stories are never discussed between them. The catalyst, unsurprisingly, is Stevi Richie.

Stevie, one day, wanders into the wardrobe trailer in search of a blazer he'd grown quite fond of. He's quiet when he comes in, stealthy even,. He doesn't want to get caught taking out tour wardrobe without permission. He thinks he's alone at first, until he hears a giggle. And now he mist investigate.

He tiptoes down the length of the trailer, trying to pinpoint the source of the noise. And then he notices them. Mikey and Betsy indenting a rack of jackets, liplocked. And he can't help the 'oh my god' that escapes his mouth. And the pair of them jump a part.

"Excuse me my bad sorry!" He quickly says, back stepping away until he gets his way out of the trailer. At the time, he convinces himself that he won't tell anyone.

This lasts about fifteen minutes.

"Jay, you'll never guess what I saw."

Jay sighs, looking up from the paper. "What is it now?"

Stevi smacks his hand over his mouth.

"Wait. I shouldn't tell anyone."

Jay shrugs. "Whatever you say, mate."

"I saw Mikey and Betsy kissing in the wardrobe trailer." Jays eyes grow wide.

"Are you serious?"

"Would I lie to you?"

"Is that... any of your business?"

"Well, I saw it, so..."

Jay shakes his head. "Your ridiculous, sometimes, Stevi."

This is not Stevi's only blab.

\---

It's off to his fellow overs next, Fleur and Ben. They're hanging out at their hotel floor kitchen when Stevi comes in, a giddy smile on his face, and Fleur notices it immediately.

"Hey Stevi. What got you in a good mood?"  He sits down with them.

"So, I was in the was in the wardrobe trailer, and Mikey and Betsy were in there too," He pauses for dramatic effect, "and they were kissing!" Fleur's jaw drops. 

"No way!"

But now she notices Ben across of her, hand over his mouth, face going pale.

"Ben, what's wrong?"

"It's just..." He runs his hand through his hair, "It's not any of our business, but," He exhales, exasperated. "A couple weeks back, when rehearsals were ending, I happened to... see Mikey. with Lauren. like that."

"You mean—"

"i thought he was a straight up guy, but, if he's playing these girls like this, I don't want to stand for that, ya know?"

Fleur's words are stuck in her throat, lost for what to say. Because in light of hearing about Mikey and Lauren, she still can't just say what she saw those few weeks back. Because what she could say about Lauren and Parisa holds much more weight than Ben's reveal. Because Lauren's sexual orientation secret isn't Fleur's, isn't anyone's, to tell. 

"Don't—say anything to Mikey, I'll talk to her. And we don't talk about this with anyone." She points an accusatory finger at Stevi, "Even you, Stevi."

He gives a salute. "Yes, ma'am."

Psssh. Like Stevi can ever keep his mouth shut.

\---

When Fleur knocks on the door of Lauren's dressing room, Lauren gives a 'come in', and Fleur does. Lauren's just brushing her hair, the TV on a low volume in ambiance. She gives Fleur a smile, but it fades when she sees Fleur's serious expression.

"What is it, am I in trouble?"

"Oh, no no no. I just need to talk about something." Fleur sits. Slightly perplexed, Lauren sits with her. 

"So several weeks back, I saw something I wasn't supposed to see. It's none of my business but the situation has changed, so I think you should know that I know. I saw you with Parisa."

Lauren's eyes go wide.

"Now I want you to know that regardless of how I found out, that I am here for you and I don't think any less of you."

Lauren's shocked silent. When she opens her mouth to speak her words com out quiet and meek, looking at the floor:

"It's...thank you, but...it's now what you think."

"I know about Mikey too."

Lauren head jolts back up, eyes even wider.

"And I don't blame you for lying to him, because he's been lying to you too—" Lauren stands abruptly.

"I need to go."

"Lauren, don't—"

"It's complicated, more than you can understand, I just, need to talk to them." And the door's closing behind her before Fleur can get another word in.

\---

She finds Parisa and Betsy in their dressing room, already discussing the Stevi-in-the-wardrobe-trailer situation. But their attention quickly switches to Lauren, already starting to panic. Parisa stands first, pulling Lauren into her arms.

"Hey, hey hey hey, what's going on?" She rubs circles into Lauren's back as she squeezes Parisa tighter.

"It's just...Fleur says she saw me and you and she saw me and Mikey and I didn't know what to say or what to do so I—"

"Wait, they know about those too?!" Betsy says from her seat.

And now Lauren's confused again. "What?"

Parisa sighs. "Betsy and Mikey were being hormonal teenagers and Stevi walked in on them."

"You make it sound like we were having sex!" Betsy complains.

"You very well could've been if he'd gone in ten minutes later!" Betsy doesn't deny this, instead changes the subject.

"So wait, you said she knows about you and Mikey too?"

"Yeah?"

"That explains this text I got from Mikey: [everyone's giving me dirty looks and my hairdresser won't speak to me what the hell is going on?]"

\---

Mikey's afternoon continues to go downhill. Stevi knows, so everyone knows, basically. He's updated on the situation, but they have yet to figure out a course of action. If they can just get through this one performance, then they can get everything sorted.

They're having a quick meal before the show. No one's speaking to Mikey, and both Betsy and Lauren are trying their best to deflect and related questions. But it all intensifies before they can do anything to stop it.

Mikey's just trying to get another hashbrown. And so is Casey. And Casey is, understandably, a bit upset with Mikey. It starts as an agitative shoulder shoving match that escalates quickly.

"Hey, I just want a hashbrown." Mikey says. And this, apparently, is Casey's boiling point.

"What the fuck man! I trusted you, we all trusted you!"

"Whoa! Hold on there!" Mikey puts down his plate to put his hands up in surrender.

"All of us though you were proper nice guy, and look!" He points to Betsy and Lauren, who both to some level look horrified. "I bet they don't even know you've been two-timing the both of them! The rest of us know before they know, how fucked up is that?!"

Every pair of eyes in the room is glaring at him as he formulates his next words.

"I have half a mind to punch you right now." Casey says. Now Mikey regains his voice.

"Now, if everyone can just calm down—" Casey looks like he might actually punch Mikey, "I can explain." He looks to Betsy and Parisa, and they nod. It's not like they have any choice.

"So, I'm dating Betsy, and I'm dating Lauren." The entire room gives a sigh of disgust. Mikey continues. "I'm also dating Parisa." This triggers a collective gasp. It's like time has stopped, their faces frozen in horror. "I'm also dating Charlie." This reaction is much more surprised. Charlie looks up from his meal, nearly frustrated that Mikey's dragged him into this. "And..." Mikey continues, "...I'm not really good at explaining all this. Betsy will you take over?"

 Betsy pops up from her seat as though she was expecting the invitation.

"It's this thing called polyamory." Barclay's trying to explain to Other Charlie what's going on. Andrea's google translating into Italian. "So basically, we're all dating each other, we all know about it, and we're all happy. So I knew that Mikey was seeing Lauren, in the same way he knows that I'm also seeing Parisa. Any questions?"

The room is silent. The only sound is Charlie continuing to eat his food, disregarding the room's shocked and confused atmosphere. Then Casey speaks up again.

"So wait... if i'm following correctly, you and Lauren are together too?" Betsy nods. "So I wasn't hallucinating when y'all were kissing on the couch when you thought I was sleeping?!"

Parisa gasps, grabbing Lauren's shoulder. "You did not tell me about that!" Lauren's hand's cover her face. She's going crimson.

One of the stagehands comes in, unaware of what's just happened and quite confused, to tell them they need to get ready for the show.

Questions are left unanswered as they head off. They still field a barrage of questions as they get ready. Other Charlie has it explained to him several more times, Andrea finds an article in Italian to explain it all.

It's strange, actually. Everything's out of the open, which is so unfamiliar, so new, and it's a mix of terrifying and exhilarating. So when Lauren's sitting getting her makeup done, everyone talking about her is a bit overwhelming.

And she watches Charlie in the mirror as he wraps his arms around her from behind, his cheek flush against her's.

"Don't worry," He says, "It'll die down. They'll get over it." He parts with a kiss on her cheek. And Lauren remembers why this is all worth it.


End file.
